Eternal Night
by Crimson Cupcake
Summary: When Ichigo sinks after a depression after failing to save Orihime, his inner world is gripped with utter darkness. Its up to his Zanpakuto spirits and optimistic hollow to encourage his soul to reach for the sky once more. No pairings! Slight spoilers


**A/N: **This fanfiction has officially won 2010 SMASH's under 18's catergory! ^^ Cheer for me xD Sorry, I felt like writing another Tensa fic. The prompt I chose was:

Line: _No moon, no stars, just darkness…_

Beta'd by the one and only awesome **Sazerac! **Cheers!_  
_

Disclaimer: Don't own, and never will own (T_T) Bleach

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It had been like this for a long time now: an eternal night in Kurosaki Ichigo's inner world.

It was cold without the warmth of the sun, and the peculiar buildings blanketed in permanent shadow. The pitch-black sky absorbed the colours in the world, never spitting them back out. Shrinking, the buildings slowly morphed into a familiar town. But that was no sight to see with no light to see it with: no moon, no stars; just nothing but darkness. In fact, without the Reiatsu to guide them, the beings who lived in this world would have given up hope long ago.

It had all occurred within in a matter of minutes. It was all because that girl Inoue hadn't been saved, causing Ichigo's world to be clouded with darkness. There was nothing to see, nothing to do and nowhere to go. In fact, if Zangetsu was the only being in this world, he would have slowly disappeared into his shell and vanished.

But he was not the only one.

Tensa Zangetsu was equally as bored, equally as annoyed and equally as disappointed in their master as Zangetsu was. So while Zangetsu was usually the one roaming alone, he would occasionally allow Tensa Zangetsu to think for them – to become the dominating body, if only to quietly rest and escape from the world of silence.

But Tensa Zangetsu could only cope with so much. It was like Hueco Mundo, the Land of Eternal Night, but only without the constant crescent moon and far _far _worse. And even in Hueco Mundo there was a sun which still brought a purpose to life, despite being artificial. In here, there was nothing. In the rare moments Tensa Zangetsu was allowed to roam free and unchecked, there was nowhere to roam to and nothing to look for.

He absolutely despised the sight of the small buildings trembling with despair.

So in times when Zangetsu refused to come back out, and Tensa Zangetsu had enough of the pathetic sights, he called out for another being. These occasions had once been extremely rare, but were rapidly becoming much more frequent. When needed, Tensa Zangetsu would quietly disappear and allow the inner hollow to dominate.

The inner hollow — whom both Zanpakuto spirits had nicknamed 'Shirosaki Hichigo' simply because a name was essential to them — used to love the rare chances he was allowed an escape. When he was stronger he was able dominate Zangetsu by force and appear, a laissez-faire smirk on his face.

But that was no longer possible. He had not been allowed out for the longest time imaginable, if only the concept of time existed.

So when he was suddenly given numerous chances to explore, Hichigo had been ecstatic. His mood faltered when he realized there was nothing to do, nowhere to go and nothing to see in a world covered in darkness.

But Hichigo wasn't like the others. He refused to give up. Heck, even if the King had given up and the Zanpakuto spirits weren't about to do anything, he "sure as hell weren't gonna follow their footsteps". The timeless night was spent constructing a lengthy yet simple garden, making sure every hedge was exactly the same height. He also prided himself in destroying buildings which, once so immense it was virtually unmovable, now crumbled like dust beneath his feet.

Again and again, he would destroy the same two places – the school and the King's house – only to see them slowly build back up again. The house of the woman – Inoue Orihime – he left perfectly intact, as if to remind the King that he had failed and would fail again and again so just _please_ let him out for a while.

Days passed. Weeks passed. The only change in the inner world was that it had started to rain quite heavily.

By this time both Zangetsu and his younger counterpart had both refused to come out, leaving Hichigo to explore. The hollow realized many things. First was that when he tried to keep going West, the scenery of the town would repeat itself. The second was that the houses he had kicked down had now refused to build themselves back up, so he had to keep going West (or South or North) and keep kicking down the same buildings. The third was that the more he tried to tell himself that it "wasn't as borin' as Zangetsu had thought", the more he knew he was lying.

The fourth was that he really hated the friggin' King and it was much too quiet and he really needed some freakin' noise.

The solution? He started speaking to himself. He talked about trees and flowers and cute little animals and how the "stupid friggin' King wouldn't give him a freakin' chance to go out 'n explore." His voice eventually got tired and cracked, but there was no one else to speak and no one else to speak _to_.

After a few days of that, Zangetsu finally came out – but not like usual. He branched off Hichigo's white cloak as if being split into two, and finally appeared fully formed in front of the hollow.

To say the least, it was a surprise on Hichigo's part. "Oi! Zangetsu! 's 'bout time yer came out ter play!"

The Zanpakuto only gave a solemn nod, looking up at the ever-falling rain.

Hichigo sneered at him. "What? Yer worried 'bout the King? Man, he's a friggin' weaklin', gettin' so depressed 'bout _her_."

Again, Zangetsu didn't speak. Hichigo was becoming annoyed now. "Oi! Speak ter me, would ya? 's been kinda dull by myself out here." A hint of sadness entered his voice.

"Sorry...Hichigo." His voice was faint, but the apologetic tone was clearly felt.

"Huh? Whaffor?"

"I left you out here. In the rain. Alone."

Silence.

Then... "Pfft! That's it? You're a weaklin' too, yer know? Sayin' sorry just because—just because of that..."

"I really am sorry, Hichigo," Zangetsu tried again.

This time Hichigo wiped away all hints of sadness. "Yeah, yeah," he said off-handedly.

"Give up, Zangetsu." From the Zanpakuto separated another form: same dark hair, same dark eyes, but with a face much younger than his counterpart. Tensa Zangetsu shook his unruly hair out of his eyes and shook his sword. "The hollow's impossible."

"Hey! I thought yer were gonna call me by m' name now!" Hichigo protested.

"...Hichigo," Tensa Zangetsu added stonily, before looking around. "What happened to this place? It looks like a dump," he remarked. "Ichigo's still in his foul mood?"

Hichigo shrugged. "Yeah. 'pparently he hasn't been goin' ter school or nothing', just sittin' there and barely eatin' meals. Shoulda let me take over ages ago."

Both Zanpakuto spirits disregarded the last line. "We have to do something about this," Zangetsu decided.

"Well, _duh_," Hichigo interjected. They ignored him.

"Are you going to materialize?" Tensa Zangetsu asked.

"Do I have a choice? I guess I have to."

"Ya could always let me—"

"Tell him," Tensa Zangetsu said slowly, "that the next time he comes into this world, I won't go easy on him."

"I know," Zangetsu nodded.

"Tell 'im ter bring some cats 'n dogs in—"

Zangetsu interrupted him. "I'm off."

Then, like the mist evaporating after a cold night when the sun finally appears, Zangetsu vanished.

-xox-

Without the concept of time, the two beings were unable to measure how long it took for the sun to reappear. It was a weak ray of light and well hidden behind the storm clouds, but after what seemed like forever it was a welcoming sight. The town was bathed in a golden glow, and the buildings Hichigo had previously knocked down had risen back up again, taller than the rest. Kurosaki Ichigo's inner world was reconstructing itself. Slowly but surely, it would rise to the top once more.

Zangetsu returned as the first ray of light made itself shown. The Zanpakuto's eyes held no expression, but the aura he possessed was certainly one of pride and satisfaction. Both beings greeted him at once, each showing their delight in different ways.

Hichigo ran around the town many times as fast as his feet could carry him, appreciating it from all different sides and admiring the way the light bounced off the buildings. Tensa Zangetsu stood at the edge of the tallest building and stood there for several minutes, simply admiring the stunning view of hope. Zangetsu watched the two of them and smiled, and began half-heartedly calling Hichigo back.

Because despite their hurried denials, they were never complete without each other, and together the three of them were a crucial part of Kurosaki Ichigo's soul.

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**A/N:** I tried to make it fluffly/warm but I think I failed...

Review~

~CC


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